1. Of the Arabs before Mohammed; or, as they express it, in the Time of Ignorance; their History, Religion, Learning, and Customs....... 1 2. Of the State of Christianity, particularly of the Eastern Churches, and Judaism, at the time of Mohammed's appearance; and of the methods taken by him for the establishing his Religion, and the circumstances which concurred thereto... 23 3. Of the Korân itself, the Peculiarities of that book; the Manner of its being written and published, and the general Design of it..... ..... 40 4. Of the Doctrines and positive Precepts of the Korân which relate to Faith and Religious Duties...... 5. Of certain negative Precepts in the Korân....... . 50 87 94 Of the Months commanded by the Korân to be kept sacred; and of the setting apart Friday for the especial service of God...................... ... 105 6. Of the Institutions of the Korân in Civil Affairs .... 8. Of the principal Sects among the Mohammedans; and of those who have pretended to Prophecy among the Arabs, in or since the time of Mohammed ............ 107 (xvii) A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS ОР THE KORAN.* Chap Page. 1. Intitled, The Preface, or Introduction; containing 7 verses. 1 2 35 59 9 Intitled, The Declaration of Immunity (Conversion); containing 139 (130) 13. Intitled, Thunder; containing 43 verses............. 15. Intitled, Al Hejr; containing 99 (100) verses 16. Intitled, The Bee (The Bees); containing 128 verses. .. Intitled, The Night Journey; containing 110 (111) verses. 18. Intitled, The Cave; containing 111 (110) verses.. ..... 309 28. Intitled, The Story (The History); containing 87 (88 verses .... 316 325 33. Intitled, The Confederates (The Conspirators); containing 73 verses.. * The titles and figures within parentheses are those which are given in the translation by SAVARY (xviii) Chap. 35. Intitled, The Creator (The Angels); containing 45 verses 36. Intitled, Y. S. (I. S.); containing 83 verses....•••• . Pago. 361 37. Intitled, Those who rank themselves in Order (The Classes); containing 182 verses 365 38. Intitled, S.; containing 86 (88) verses........ 371 39. Intitled, The troops; containing 75 verses .. 10. Intitled. The True Believer; containing 85 verses .......... .... 377 393 43. Intitled, The Ornaments of Gold (Dress); containing 89 verses 397 44. Intitled, Smoke; containing 57 (59) verses. 402 45. Intitled, The Kneeling; containing 36 verses.. 404 46. Intitled, Al Ahkaf; containing 35 verses ...... 47. Intitled, Mohammed (The Battle); containing 38 (40) verses .. 48. Intitled, The Victory; containing 29 verses.. 49. Intitled, The Inner Apartments (The Sanctuary); containing 18 verses....... 417 51. Intitled, The Dispersing (The Breath of the Winds); containing 60 verses...... 422 56. Intitled, The Inevitable (The Judgment); containing 99 (96) verses 435 438 72. Intitled, The Genii; containing 28 verses... 58. Intitled, She who disputed (The Complaint); containing 22 verses...... ...... 66. Intitled, Prohibition; containing 12 verses 67. Intitled, The Kingdom; containing 30 verses .. 68. Intitled, The Pen; containing 52 verses...... 69. Intitled, The Infallible (The Inevitable Day); containing 52 verses.. 70. Intitled, The Steps (The Classes or The Orders); containing 44 verses... 71. Intitled, Noah; containing 28 verses ....... 73. Intitled, The Wrapped up (The Prophet clothed in his Dress); containing 19 (20) verses ................ 74. Intitled, The Covered (The Mantle); containing 55 verses 469 471 473 474 77. Inuitled, Those which are sent (The Messengers); containing 50 verses ....... 476 verses..... 478 480 482 80. Intitled, He Frowned (The Frowning Brow); containing 42 verses ............ 479 482 84. Intitled, The Rending in sunder (The Opening); containing 23 (25) verscs .... 484 485 1- Verses ..... 486 Chap. 87. Intitled, The Most High; containing 19 verses...... Page 486 ..... 491 88. Intitled, The Overwhelming (The Gloomy Veil); containing 26 (27) verses .... 93. Intitled, The Brightness (The Sun in his Meridian); containing 11 verses ... 491 492 493 96. Intitled, Congealed Blood (The Union of the Sexes); containing 19 verses.... 494 495 99. Intitled, The Earthquake; containing 8 verses.......... 495 ...... 496 100. Intitled, The War Horses which run swiftly (The Coursers); con. 11 verses.. 497 105. Intitled, The Elephant; containing 5 verses.. 106. Intitled, Koreish The Koreishites); containing 4 verses ........ 498 499 499 501 107. Intitled, Necessaries (The Succouring Hand); containing 7 verses 504 112. Intitled, The Declaration of God's unity (Unity); containing 4 verses..... 113. Intitled, The Day-break (The God of Morning); containing 5 verses ........ 505 505 THE PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. SECTION J. THE ARABS BEFORE MOHAMMED, OR, AS THEY EXPRESS IT, IN THE TIME OF IGNORANCE; THEIR HISTORY, RELIGION, LEARNING, AND CUSTOMS. THE Arabs, and the country they inhabit, which themselves call Jezîrat al Arab, or the Peninsula of the Arabians, but we Arabia, were so named from Araba, a small territory in the province of Tehâma;' to which Yarab the son of Kahtân, the father of the ancient Arabs, gave his name, and where, sorne ages after, dwelt Ismael the son of Abraham by Hagar. The Christian writers for several centuries speak of them under the appellation of Saxons; the most certain derivation of which word is from shark, the east, where the descendants of Joctan, the Kahtân of the Arabs, are placed by Moses, and in which quarter they dwelt in respect to the Jews. The name of Arabia (used in a more extensive sense) sometimes comprehends all that large tract of land bounded by the river Euphrates, the Persian gulf, the Sindian, Indian, and Red Seas, and part of the Mediterranean: above two-thirds of which country, that is, Arabia properly so called, the Arabs have possessed almost from the flood; and have made themselves masters of the rest, either by settlements, or continual incursions; for which reason the Turks and Persians at this day call the whole Arabistån, or the country of the Arabs. But the limits of Arabia, in its more usual and proper sense, are much narrower, as reaching no farther northward than the Isthmus, which runs from Aila to the head of the Persian Gulf, and the borders of the territory of Cûfa; which tract of land the Greeks nearly comprehended under the name of Arabia the Happy. The eastern geographers make Arabia Petræa to belong partly to Egypt, and partly to Shâm or Syria, and the desert Arabia they call the deserts of Syria. Proper Arabia is by the oriental writers generally divided into five provinces, viz. Yaman, Hejâz, Tehâma, Najd, and Yamâma; to which some add Bahrein, as a sixth, but this province the inore exact make part of 'Pocock, Specim. Hist. Arab. 33. ⚫ Gen. x. 30. See Pocock, Specim 33, 34 • Golius ad Alfragan. 78, 79. 'Strabo says Arabia Felix was in his time divided into five kingdoms lib. 16, p. 1129. |